The Cuba Reader

by Chomsky, Aviva; Carr, Barry; Smorkaloff, Pamela Maria; Kirk, Robin

• ISBN13: 9780822331841
• ISBN10: 0822331845
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Cuba is often perceived in starkly black and white terms-either as the site of one of Latin America's most successful revolutions or as the repressive regime that is the world's last bastion of communism. The Cuba Reader multiplies perspectives on the nation many times over, presenting more than one hundred selections about Cuba's history, culture, and politics. Beginning with the first written account of the island, penned by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the selections assembled here track Cuban history from the colonial period through the ascendancy of Fidel Castro to the present.The Cuba Reader combines songs, paintings, photographs, poems, short stories, speeches, cartoons, government reports and proclamations, and pieces by historians, journalists, and others. Most of these are by Cubans both on and off the island and many appear for the first time in English. The writings and speeches of José Martí, Fernando Ortiz, Fidel Castro, Alejo Carpentier, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Che Guevera, and Reinaldo Arenas appear alongside the testimonies of slaves, prostitutes, doctors, travelers, and activists. Some selections examine health, education, Catholicism, and santería; others celebrate Cuba's vibrant dance, music, film, and literary cultures. The pieces are grouped into chronological sections. Each section and individual selection is preceded by a brief introduction by the editors.The volume presents a number of pieces about twentieth-century Cuba, including the events leading up to and following Castro's January 1959 announcement of revolution. It provides a look at Cuba in relation to the rest of the world: the effect of its revolution on Latin America and the Caribbean, its alliance with the Soviet Union from the 1960s until the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989, and its tumultuous relationship with the United States. The Cuba Reader also describes life in the periodo especially following the cutoff of Soviet aid and the tightening of the U.S. embargo.For students, travelers, and all those who want to know more about the island nation just ninety miles south of Miami, The Cuba Reader is an invaluable introduction.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(8)
I Indigenous Society and Conquest
Christopher Columbus "Discovers" Cuba,
Christopher Columbus	9	(3)
The Devastation of the Indies,
Bartolomé de Las Casas	12	(3)
Spanish Officials and Indigenous Resistance,
Various Spanish Officials	15	(5)
A World Destroyed,
Juan Pérec de la Riva	20	(6)
"Transculturation" and Cuba,
Fernando Ortic	26	(2)
Survival Stories,
José Barreiro	28	(11)
II Sugar, Slavery, and Colonialism
A Physician's Notes on Cuba,
John G.F. Wurdemann	39	(5)
The Death of the Forest,
Manuel Moreno Fraginals	44	(5)
Autobiography of a Slave,
Juan Francisco Mancano	49	(9)
Biography of a Runaway Slave,
Miguel Barnet	58	(7)
Fleeing Slavery,
Miguel Barnet, Pedro Deschamps Chapeaux, Rafael Garcia, and Rafael Duharte	65	(4)
Santiago de Cuba's Fugitive Slaves,
Rafael Duharte	69	(5)
Rumba,
Yvonne Daniel	74	(5)
The Trade in Chinese Laborers,
Richard Dana	79	(4)
Life on a Coffee Plantation,
John G.F. Wurdemann	83	(5)
Cuba's First Railroad,
David Turnbull	88	(3)
The Color Line,
José Antonio Saco	91	(3)
Abolition!,
Father Félix Varela	94	(3)
Cecilia Valdés,
Cirilo Villaverde	97	(6)
Sab,
Gertrudes Gómec de Avellaneda y Arteaga	103	(7)
An Afro-Cuban Poet,
Plácido	110	(5)
III The Struggle for Independence
Freedom and Slavery,
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes	115	(3)
Memories of a Cuban Girl,
Renée Méndez Capote	118	(4)
José Marti's "Our America,"
José Marti	122	(6)
Guantanamera,
José Marti	128	(2)
The Explosion of the Maine,
New York Journal	130	(5)
U.S. Cartoonists Portray Cuba,
John J. Johnson	135	(4)
The Devastation of Counterinsurgency,
Fifty-fifth Congress, Second Session	139	(8)
IV Neocolonialism
The Platt Amendment,
President Theodore Roosevelt	147	(3)
Imperialism and Sanitation,
Nancy Stepan	150	(4)
A Child of the Platt Amendment,
Renée Méndez Capote	154	(3)
Spain in Cuba,
Manuel Moreno Fraginals	157	(6)
The Independent Party of Color,
El Partido Independiente de Color	163	(4)
A Survivor,
Isidoro Santos Carrera	167	(4)
Rachel's Song,
Miguel Barnet	171	(9)
Honest Women,
Miguel de Carrión	180	(6)
Generals and Doctors,
Carlos Loveira	186	(3)
A Crucial Decade,
Loló de la Torriente	189	(3)
Afrocubanismo and Son,
Robin Moore	192	(13)
Drums in My Eyes,
Nicolás Guillén	205	(7)
Abakuá,
Rafael López Valdés	212	(7)
The First Wave of Cuban Feminism,
Ofelia Dominguez Navarro	219	(7)
Life at the Mill,
Ursinio Rojas	226	(8)
Migrant Workers in the Sugar Industry,
Levi Marrero	234	(5)
The Cuban Counterpoint,
Fernando Ortiz	239	(5)
The Invasion of the Tourists,
Rosalie Schwartz	244	(9)
Waiting Tables in Havana,
Cipriano Chinea Palero and Lynn Geldof	253	(4)
The Brothel of the Caribbean,
Tomás Fernández Robaina	257	(3)
A Prostitute Remembers,
Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis, and Susan M. Rigdon	260	(4)
Sugarcane,
Nicolás Guillén	264	(1)
Where Is Cuba Headed?,
Julio Antonio Mella	265	(5)
The Chase,
Alejo Carpentier	270	(4)
The Fall of Machado,
R. Hart Phillips	274	(7)
Sugar Mills and Soviets,
Salvador Rionda	281	(2)
The United States Confronts the 1933 Revolution,
Sumner Welles and Cordell Hull	283	(4)
The Political Gangster,
Samuel Farber	287	(3)
The United Fruit Company in Cuba,
Oscar Zanetti	290	(6)
Cuba's Largest Inheritance,
Bohemia	296	(2)
The Last Call,
Eduardo A. Chibás	298	(2)
For Us, It Is Always the 26th of July,
Carlos Puebla	300	(2)
Three Comandantes Talk It Over,
Carlos Franqui	302	(4)
History Will Absolve Me,
Fidel Castro	306	(9)
Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War,
Che Guevara	315	(6)
The United States Rules Cuba, 1952-1958,
Morris Morley	321	(5)
The Cuban Story in the New York Times,
Herbert L. Matthews	326	(11)
V Building a New Society
And Then Fidel Arrived,
Carlos Puebla	337	(3)
Tornado,
Silvio Rodriguez	340	(1)
Castro Announces the Revolution,
Fidel Castro	341	(3)
How the Poor Got More,
Medea Benjamin, Joseph Collins, and Michael Scott	344	(10)
Fish à la Grande Jardinière,
Humberto Arenal	354	(9)
Women in the Swamps,
Margaret Randall	363	(7)
Man and Socialism,
Ernesto "Che" Guevara	370	(5)
In the Fist of the Revolution,
José Yglesias	375	(3)
The Agrarian Revolution,
Medea Benjamin, Joseph Collins, and Michael Scott	378	(8)
1961: The Year of Education,
Richard R. Fagen	386	(3)
The Literacy Campaign,
Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis, and Susan M. Rigdon	389	(6)
The 'Rehabilitation" of Prostitutes,
Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis, and Susan M. Rigdon	395	(4)
The Family Code,
Margaret Randall	399	(7)
Homosexuality, Creativity, Dissidence,
Reinaldo Arenas	406	(6)
The Original Sin,
Pablo Milanés	412	(2)
Where the Island Sleeps Like a Wing,
Nancy Morejón	414	(5)
Silence on Black Cuba,
Carlos Moore	419	(5)
Black Man in Red Cuba,
John Clytus	424	(3)
Post-modern Maroon in the Ultimate Palenque,
Christian Parenti	427	(6)
From Utopianism to Institutionalization,
Juan Antonio Blanco and Medea Benjamin	433	(10)
Carlos Puebla Sings about the Economy,
Carlos Puebla	443	(8)
VI Culture and Revolution
Coliban,
Roberto Fernández Retamar	451	(7)
For an Imperfect Cinema,
Julio Garcia Espinosa	458	(8)
Dance and Social Change,
Yvonne Daniel	466	(9)
Revolutionary Sport,
Paula Pettavino and Geralvn Pye	475	(6)
Mea Cuba,
Guillermo Cabrera Infante	481	(7)
In Hard Times,
Heberto Padilla	488	(2)
The Virgin of Charity of Cobre, Cuba's Patron Saint,
Olga Portuondo Zúniga	490	(8)
A Conversation on Santeria and Palo Monte,
Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis, and Susan M. Rigdon	498	(7)
The Catholic Church and the Revolution,
Ernesto Cardenal	505	(4)
Havana's Jewish Community, Tom Miller	509	(8)
VII The Cuban Revolution and the World
The Venceremos Brigades,
Sandra Levinson	517	(9)
The Cuban Revolution and the New Left,
Van Gosse	526	(4)
The U.S. Government Responds to Revolution,
Foreign Relations of the United States	530	(6)
Castro Calls on Cubans to Resist the Counterrevolution,
Fidel Castro	536	(4)
Operation Mongoose,
Edward Lonsdale	540	(4)
Offensive Missiles on That Imprisoned Island,
President John F. Kennedy	544	(3)
Inconsolable Memories: A Cuban View of the Missile Crisis,
Edmundo Desnoes	547	(5)
The Assassination Plots,
Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities	552	(5)
Cuban Refugee Children,
Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh	557	(4)
From Welcomed Exiles to Illegal Immigrants,
Félix Roberto Masud-Piloto	561	(5)
Wrong Channel,
Roberto Fernández	566	(2)
We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?,
Achy Obejas	568	(13)
City on the Edge,
Alejandro Portes and Alex Stepick	581	(7)
Singing for Nicaragua,
Silvio Rodriguez	588	(2)
Cuban Medical Diplomacy,
Julie Feinsilver	590	(9)
VIII The "Periodo Especial" and the Future of the Revolution
Silvio Rodriguez Sings of the Special Period,
Silvio Rodriguez	599	(8)
From Communist Solidarity to Communist Solitary,
Susan Eckstein	607	(16)
The Revolution Turns Forty,
Saul Landau	623	(5)
Colonizing the Cuban Body,
G. Derrick Hodge	628	(7)
Pope John Paul II Speaks in Cuba,
Pope John Paul II	635	(2)
Emigration in the Special Period,
Steve Fainaru and Ray Sánchez	637	(7)
The Old Man and the Boy,
John Lee Anderson	644	(6)
Civil Society,
Haroldo Dilla	650	(10)
Forty Years Later,
Senel Paz	660	(4)
A Dissident Speaks Out,
Elizardo Sánchez Santacruz	664	(2)
One More Assassination Plot,
Juan Tamayo	666	(9)
An Errand in Havana,
Miguel Barnet	675	(3)
No Turning Back for Johnny,
David Mitran	678	(13)
Suggestions for Further Reading	691	(10)
Acknowledgment of Copyrights	701	(12)
Index	713